Michener Makes Triumphant Return

May 09, 1985|by HAL MARCOVITZ, The Morning Call

James A. Michener came back to Bucks County yesterday - a learned sage, world traveler and lively elder statesman of the literary community.

Showing enthusiasm and a seemingly unbridled energy for a man of 78, Michener visited the county courthouse, his old high school, amuseum and other venues in Doylestown where hundreds turned out to fete the prolific author of novels, articles and essays.

It was James A. Michener Tribute Day in Bucks County. In return, Michener found it often difficult to restrain his appreciation to those who live in the county of his youth.

"When you grow older, people give you the benefit of thinking you are better than you are," Michener said during an appearance at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown. "A day like today is extremely warm, to go down the streets of one's town like this."

Michener continues to maintain a home in Pipersville, and in other ways keeps his ties to Bucks County current. He has long been a friend and correspondent of retired Doylestown newspaper editor W. Lester Trauch, who accompanied Michener and his wife, Mari, during much of the day.

The Bucks County Free Library in Quakertown is named for the author. Commissioner Carl F. Fonash announced during the courthouse ceremony that a portion of the old and soon-to-be-vacant Bucks County Prison will be refurbished into the James A. Michener Arts Center.

"When I was a young boy in this county, quite a few citizens predicted one day I would end up in the county jail," Michener quipped. "I'm utterly delighted."

The day's events were organized by the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce, which presented the author its Exemplar Award during a dinner in New Britain Township.

Michener took about 45 minutes out of the day to speak with reporters about his career in and out of Bucks County. During his talk, he made it clear he never planned to be a writer.

"I never thought much of anything until I was 40 years old. Any idea that I was a red-hot dreamer in high school who would become a great writer is foolish. I didn't know from nothing."

Michener said he considered himself a good student at Doylestown High School who craved for education.

"I'm a cornball on that thing. I still believe in education with all my heart. It is the differential in a lot of us. For my life, education was everything."

Bucks County has long been proud of being Michener's home. Walk into the bookstore in the center of Doylestown and there are 13 Michener titles on the racks for sale.

"Poland," "Hawaii," "Centennial," "Chesapeake," "Space" and "The Fires of Spring" are some of the titles. "Tales of the South Pacific," for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947, is included among the selections.

He hasn't always been so popular to the folks back home. Bucks Countians turned their backs on Michener in 1962 when he ran for Congress, losing to Republican Willard Curtin.

A year before, Michener wrote "Report of the County Chairman," a chronicle of his experiences as head of the Bucks County campaign for John F. Kennedy. In the presidential race of 1960, Kennedy lost Bucks County to Richard M. Nixon.

In the book, he wrote of his admiration for the people of Upper Bucks.

An excerpt:

"Democrats fared poorly in the north. Since the German sections of Bucks County were to be of unusual importance in this election, I had better speak briefly of these remarkable people. Most of them were Lutheran or Mennonite families that had lived in the area for two or three centuries, and all were frugal, honest and law-abiding. Few ever went to jail or the poorhouse rolls, for the German community protected its people in patterns of cautious behavior inherited from rural Europe. I had grown up with these Germans - the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch - and many of my schoolboy friends had barely been able to speak English when they first cameto school. There were still important sections of our county where day-to-day business was conducted in Pennsylvania Dutch and where a candidate for office was expected to campaign in that hilarious language."

In his remarks, Michener recalled his own campaign for Congress.

"Let me tell you, I have never gone into anything in my life without trying to do it well. I ran a strong campaign. I didn't win, but I consider it to be one of the two best things I've done in my life. I just love politics."

Michener added that the "best thing I've done is to help rewrite the Pennsylvania Constitution."

Michener had an opinion on every topic brought before him.

On his new book, which will be about Alaska: "My first book dealt with the South Pacific. I've always been concerned with the Pacific, having written about Japan and Tahiti. It always seemed logical to me to complete the circle in Alaska."

Michener said he is now living in Alaska to research the book. It should be finished within four years.